Updated on September 30, 2023

Docy

Template message

Template messages must be submitted for Facebook’s approval before they are available to use. It is Facebook that reviews each template to avoid spam and to check that each message complies with their WhatsApp API guidelines.

When to use templates for WhatsApp messaging?

A template message needs to be sent whenever it is outside of a Customer Service Window, which means, whenever it has been more than 24 hours since the customer sent their last message to that business phone number.

You regularly use the message template to send notifications.

Templates use placeholder values that can be replaced with dynamic content inside double curly braces when the message is sent. Think of template messages as a conversation starter in a two-way conversation.

For more information about WhatsApp Template Messaging, review the Official Facebook Documentation for the WhatsApp Business API(opens new window)

#Cost of Whatsapp conversations

You can find more about cost pricing information below: https://developers.facebook.com/docs/whatsapp/pricing/conversationpricing

Charges for conversations are based on the user’s phone number. Rates for business-initiated conversations and user-initiated conversations vary by market (country or region). See Rates (opens new window)for specific pricing information.

#Best practice to get your template message approved

Here are some tips to get your templates through the review process:

Clarity: be specific and clear. The reviewers may not know a customer’s business and need more clarity. Avoid promotion: upselling, cold-call messaging, sending a poll to collect data, and including certain phrases that sound promotional are all considered promotional.

Spelling: check for spelling and grammatical errors and use appropriate formatting (e.g., double curly brackets for parameters).

Name: make your message template name clear. Instead of using a name like template_014, use bus_ticket_details. Remember that someone from Facebook will be reviewing your templates. Providing more clarity gives reviewers context around how the template will be used.

Create context: if you need to write a message template to re-open the 24-hour window, we would suggest starting with some mention of the previous conversation thread.

Choose an appropriate category: don’t forget to use the correct message template type. Choosing the correct one will increase the chances of getting your templates approved and will provide more information to WhatsApp during the approval process.

The categories you can choose are listed below. Header (optional): you can add a title or choose which type of media you’ll use for this header. Image, PDF and Video are supported.

#Different categories of the message template

Account update: Let customers know about updates or changes to their accounts. You can use this to notify the message recipient of a change to their account settings.

  • Preferences are updated
  • Settings have changed
  • Membership has expired
  • Profile has changed

Alert update: Send important updates or news to customers.

Appointment update: Send confirmations, reminders or other updates to customers about their appointments. For example:

  • Appointment time changes
  • Appointment location changes
  • Appointment is cancelled

Auto-Reply: Send auto-replies to customers when your business isn’t online or available to respond right away.

Issue resolution: Respond to questions, concerns or feedback from customers about your business. For example:

  • Issue is resolved
  • Issue status is updated
  • Issue requires a request for additional information
  • Notify the message recipient of something informational like Business hours/hours of availability

One-Time Password: Send auto-generated verification codes so customers can securely access their accounts.

Payment update: Send a message to customers about their payment. For example:

  • Send an out-of-stock notification
  • Notify an auction has ended
  • Status of a payment transaction has changed
  • Send a receipt

Personal Finance update: Send a message to customers about their personal finances. For example:

  • Bill-pay reminders
  • Scheduled payment reminder
  • Payment receipt notification
  • Funds transfer confirmation or update
  • Other transactional activities in financial services

Reservation update: Send confirmations, reminders or other updates to customers about their reservations. For example:

  • Location changes
  • Cancellation is confirmed
  • Hotel booking is cancelled
  • Car rental pick-up time changes
  • Room upgrade is confirmed
  • Itinerary changes

Shipping update: Send shipping updates to customers about their orders. For example:

  • Product is shipped
  • Status changes to in-transit
  • Product is delivered
  • Shipment is delayed

Ticket update: Send shipping updates to customers about their orders. For example:

  • Concert start time changes
  • Event location changes
  • Show is cancelled
  • A refund opportunity is made available

Transportation update: Send shipping updates to customers about their orders. For example:

  • Flight status changes
  • Ride is cancelled
  • Trip is started
  • Ferry has arrived

If you don’t have a specific category to fit in, you can always choose auto-reply.

Building blocks of template message

The media templates have more building blocks and features, it consists of the following building blocks:

  • Header: The header is optional and serves as the title or header of your template. It supports the following: text, image, document & video

  • Body: The body should contain the most important text of your template. Only text is supported

  • Footer: The footer only supports text and can be used to provide less relevant information in your template message

  • Button: The button adds interactivity to your templates. There are two main types.

  • Quick reply button: Used for getting quick answers from your client, Max 3 Quick reply buttons per template

  • Call to Action button: Max one URL and phone number per template.

Please note:

  • All templates require a body, header, footer and buttons are optional.
  • All media examples must be URLs that point to a valid media file.

#Create template message

In this section, you will need to log in to your Whatsapp business manager account. Select the business manager account from the drop-down if there is any, and then select “template message”

Please note: Test WhatsApp number doesn’t support creating template messages, you need to use a new real phone number to create a new template message.

And after you clicked the “Create message template” from the top right corner of the dashboard.

You need to fill up the template name and select the message category and languages.

Create standard(text only) templates:

Below is the template message we created, and after you create the template, submit it to Facebook for review.

If you follow the best practice, your template will get approved very soon.

Once the template message gets approved, you will see the approved icon below.

Now you can go back to Dot Com Conversations, and go to the WhatsApp channel,

Once you go to the content, and message templates, and click “Sync WhatsApp Template”, you should be able to see that all the approved templates will be synced back to Dot Com Conversations to use.